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06.03.2009

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Marketing to Today's Mom: Truths and Consequences

Few would argue that the dynamics of the American household has indeed transformed from our recollections of life growing up. Do today's adults have anything in common with their mothers? In point of fact, many of today's moms say that while they share some similarities with their mothers, their lives today are in many other ways dramatically different. For today’s moms, the challenge of daily life is a balancing act, having to be both good and successful at dual organizations: home and work.

Truths Expressed By Actual Lives of American Moms in the Marketplace

Today’s parents in general, moms by default, are working hard inside and outside the household. A key feature that has played a significant role in facilitating change in family lifestyles is the element of transportation. Household meetings, meals, homework, movies, play dates and "quality" parenting time are often now taking place in the car - not at the dinner table or in the backyard. The modern day version of Leave It To Beaver would have June Cleaver driving "the Beave," Wally and friends to soccer games, where she would hope to trade cars with Mr. Cleaver so she can go on to an evening meeting, work, class or time with friends. They'll all find dinner on their own, or in the car, with Dad. As one consumer mom told us:

"Life has become definitely more stressful on an everyday basis. As kids, we could get everywhere on our bikes and 'plan' our own after-school life. Now, we have to drive our kids everywhere and 'supervise' them all the time."

The increased dependency on the car to transport all of us, and especially our children to and from everything, is one of the factors mentioned in the new attention to childhood obesity. And if today's mom wants to embrace health and wellness trends that seek to mitigate the impact of driving on people's bodies, fitness and morale, she needs to schedule in even more slots of time for fitness-related activity for herself and for her children. Finding time to squeeze in a morning run, afternoon workout or brisk walk is often quite a feat.

Of course, none of this is new news. The reality of these changes have been around for awhile, but their translation into appropriate business practices, marketing strategies, employment policies, public transportation services, school scheduling, healthcare services and product development has been slow. It is not that moms haven't been telling them. They have, daily. It is just that companies and government organizations haven't been doing a very good job of paying close attention: watching, listening and learning just how today's moms live, shop and use products.

Here is a sample reality of today's Moms and the corresponding issues with marketing implications:

Truth: Households with kids are vibrant, disorderly and short for time. The tranquil imagery of Mom cooking dinner in the kitchen, waiting for Dad to arrive home at the end of the work day, around 6:00, at which time they will all sit down together to eat the same meal is no more. Today, the household scene is radically different, at times chaotic and filled with frenetic variations. A look inside the household finds that there may be many people cooking with kids helping themselves to snacks in cupboards and the fridge. As for arriving home at the end of a work day, it is just as likely to be Mom as it is Dad, often times arriving at different times on different evenings.

Consequences: Today, it seems everyone is in the car. And, when they are home they may go straight for the television, the X-Box or the Internet. Even in homes where moms do all of the cooking, she may be arriving home from work to heat up food, or pick up kids from child care, after Dad has already come home. Households need help in managing time and in managing disorder, and no one needs to feel more guilt about what isn't getting done. Thus, despite the fact that we hear a lot of intentionality around eating together in the evening since it’s the only meal that realistically can be had together, many families still struggle to eat together five days a week. This means that:

Planning is both essential and an ongoing process in the above scenario, but it is not done in the dreamy way of Mom making a list and keeping it in her purse. Chances are planning occurs over the phone during the day, via email, or on the cell phone in a parking lot. It is also a good bet that there will be more last-minute trips to the store. As the kids get older, store trips are increasingly frequent.
Cleaning products need to be designed with relevance to a very limited schedule for cleaning by a range of different people (not the same person all the time).
Keeping up with nutritional needs is an ideal, a goal, a dream, but not always top of mind. Finding a snack or a convenient meal that takes care of that without planning is a dream for many household managers. Interestingly, many parents, voicing interests in ethnic foods, see imparting global tastes on their children as a way to groom them as good global citizens.
And transportation alternatives, planned communities designed to minimize commuting, traffic and car dependence would dramatically ease the tensions of contemporary households.

When marketers make false assumptions about moms, they risk ignoring, insulting and/or alienating the very audience they seek to attract. Today's moms, and importantly dads, are looking for something more meaningful in a lifestyle with children. Specifically, a lot of moms and dads are beginning to say no to a lot of “extraneous stuff.” They are consciously slowing down their family life – e.g. each kid is involved in 1-2 activities rather than 3-4 to achieve balance. The implications for marketers and brand managers are clear: The forces that define and mold the cultural lifestyles both inside and outside the household have a direct impact on shaping the product worlds that serve them.

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Marketing to Today's Mom: Truths and Consequences

The imagery that many marketers have of moms is out of step - and often out of touch - with the cultural realities of today. learn the new truths and consequences of life in the 21st Century household and what it means for your company, download the white paper Marketing to Today's Mom: Truths and Consequences FREE for one week!